PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION
Graduate instruction in the faculty of philosophy—True university instruction begins after the completion of the college course, and very little such instruction is given by any American university[[33]] except in the so-called graduate schools belonging to the twenty-three colleges in the United States included in the Federation of graduate clubs.[[34]] In the following 16 of these 23 graduate schools women are admitted without restriction and compete with men for many of the scholarships and honors: Yale, Brown, Cornell, Columbia, New York university, Pennsylvania, Columbian, Vanderbilt, Missouri, Western reserve, Chicago, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, Leland Stanford Junior; Bryn Mawr and Wellesley admit women only; Harvard admits them to certain courses through the mediation of Radcliffe. There remain, apart from the Catholic university, only 3 graduate schools excluding women: Clark, Princeton and the Johns Hopkins university; and in the Johns Hopkins they are admitted to at least one university department—that of the medical school.[[35]]
In 1898–99 there were studying in these 23 graduate schools 1,021 women, forming 26.8 per cent of the whole number of graduate students.[[36]] In 1889–90 the U. S. education report estimates that there were 271 women graduate students out of a total of 2,041 graduate students, or women formed 13.27 per cent of all graduate students; in 1897–98 the report for that year estimates that there were 1,398 women out of a total of 5,816 graduate students, or women formed 24.04 per cent of all students—a remarkable increase as compared to the increase of men graduate students in 8 years.
Graduate fellowships and scholarships—In 1899 there were open to women 319 scholarships varying in value from $100 to $400 (50 of these exclusively for women) and 2 foreign scholarships (1 exclusively for women); 81 residence fellowships of the value of $400 or over (18 of these exclusively for women); 24 foreign fellowships of the value of $500 and upwards (12 of these exclusively for women).[[37]]
Comparative table of the progress of coeducation and increase of women students from 1890 to 1898 and 1899 in theology, law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, schools of technology and agriculture.
| 1890[[38]] | 1899[[39]] | 1890[[38]] | 1898[[40]] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of colleges for men only | Number of coed. colleges | Percentage of coed. colleges | Number of colleges for men only | Number of coed. colleges | Percentage of coed. colleges | Number of women students | Percentage women of all students | Number of women students | Percentage women of all students | |
| Theology | No women reported | 97 | 68 | 41.2 | No women reported | 198 | 2.4 | |||
| Law | No women reported | 22 | 64 | 74.4 | No women reported | 147 | 1.3 | |||
| Medicine (regular and irregular)[[41]] | 67 | 46 | 40.7 | 69 | 80 | 53.7 | 854 | 5.5 | 1397 | 6.0 |
| Dentistry | 14 | 13 | 48.1 | 12 | 44 | 78.6 | 53 | 2.0 | 62 | 2.4 |
| Pharmacy | 13 | 16 | 55.2 | 4 | 48 | 92.3 | 60 | 2.1 | 174 | 4.7 |
| Schools of technology and agriculture endowed with national land grant[[42]] | 14 | 12 | 46.2 | 16 | 48 | 75. | 774 | 12.5 | 2281 | 16.1 |
[38]. The numbers of coeducational and other professional schools are estimated from the U. S. ed. rep. for 1889–90.
[39]. Through the kindness of Mr. James Russell Parsons, Jr., author of the monograph on professional education in the United States, published as one of this series, I am able to insert the figures for 1899, see p. [21]. By personal inquiry I have been able to add four to his list of coeducational schools of theology.
[40]. The number of professional students for the year 1898 is taken from the U. S. ed. rep. for 1897–98.
[41]. For the sake of clearness I have omitted from the above table the 7 separate medical schools for women, although I have counted their students in the total number of women medical students, both in 1890 and 1898. In 1890 there were studying in the 6 regular medical women’s colleges 425 women, as against 648 women in coeducational regular medical colleges; in 1898 there were studying in them 411 women, as against 1045 in coeducational colleges, a decrease of 3.3 per cent, whereas women students in coeducational medical colleges have increased 16.3 per cent. I limit the comparison to regular medical schools because women have increased relatively more rapidly in irregular medical schools and there is only one separate irregular medical school for women. It is sometimes said that women prefer medical sects because the proportion of women studying in irregular schools is relatively greater than the proportion studying in regular schools; but in 1898, 85.7 per cent of the irregular schools were coeducational and only 46.6 per cent of regular schools, a fact which undoubtedly increases the proportion of students studying in irregular schools.
[42]. The statistics for the schools of technology and agriculture are taken from the U. S. education report for 1889–90, pp. 1053–1054, and from the report for 1897–98, pp. 1985–1988. I have excluded schools of technology not endowed with the national land grant. In 1890 there were 27 of such schools (5 of them coeducational); in 1898 their number had fallen to 17 (3 of them coeducational). Very few women are studying in these schools; in 1898 women formed only 0.2 per cent of all students studying in them.
Theology, law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, veterinary science, schools of technology and agriculture—Ten years ago there were very few women studying in any of these schools. The wonderful increase both in facilities for professional study and in the number of women students during the last eight years may be seen by referring to the comparative table on the opposite page.
It is evident to the impartial observer that coeducation is to be the method in professional schools. Except in medicine, where women were at first excluded from coeducational study by the strongest prejudice that has ever been conquered in any movement, no important separate professional schools, indeed none whatever, except one unimportant school of pharmacy have been founded for women only.[[43]] It is evident also that the number of women entering upon professional study is increasing rapidly. If we compare the relative increase of men and of women from 1890 to 1898 we obtain the following percentages: increase of students in medicine, men, 51.1 per cent, women, 64.2 per cent; in dentistry, men, 150.2 per cent, women, 205.7 per cent; in pharmacy, men, 25.9 per cent, women, 190 per cent; in technology and agriculture, men, 119.3 per cent, women, 194.7 per cent.